2.1.2 National Framework for Protection of Stateless Persons in South Eastern Europe Statelessness affects two broad categories of persons within South Eastern Europe: first, those who are recognized as stateless persons and second, those who have not gone through formal procedures to determine them as stateless persons or as nationals of the country they reside in or other countries they have links with, but who face serious challenges proving their nationality due to documentation problems. While recognizing that some of these individuals may be found to be stateless once procedures for confirming nationality have been exhausted, these individuals will for the sake of simplicity all be referred to below as ‘persons who are at risk of statelessness’. The first category is comprised of people who have been formally recognized as stateless by a State. Within the region, statelessness is generally determined incidentally through procedures, the main purpose of which is not necessarily to recognize and grant a legal status to stateless persons. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have all recognized stateless persons living on their territory. These people are entitled to the protection offered by the 1954 Convention as implemented in national legislation. There are stateless persons recognised by the state in Serbia. They arrived from Albania in the 1980s and are mostly of Serb or Montenegrin origin. One person so far has been recognized as stateless in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since he had a link with the country previously, he was subsequently naturalized. One person was recognized as stateless in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and subsequently naturalized. According to information from the Macedonian (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) Ministry of Interior, Section for Aliens and Readmission, 116 individuals are "considered" as stateless although no decision to this effect has been issued to any of them. Although the Law on Aliens provides for grant of residence permit for "stateless persons" under Article 80 which generally refers to "humanitarian grounds", these persons have been issued Alien Residence Permits on other grounds contained in the Law. However, because their nationality is recorded as "stateless" in the registry records for aliens managed by the MOI-Section for Aliens and Readmission, they are waived from requirements such as provision of a valid passport/travel document from the country of origin, etc. and benefit from facilitated access to regulated legal residence in the country. All countries in the region moreover stipulate that stateless persons have the right to be issued travel documents, despite the lack of formal statelessness determination procedures or even, in some cases, a definition of stateless persons in national legislation. In addition, there is a second, more broadly constituted group of people who are at risk of statelessness. These individuals have not been determined to be stateless and do not as such enjoy the benefits of the 1954 Convention in the countries where they reside. At a minimum, however, they are entitled to the basic human rights standards which apply to all persons on the territory of a State. These persons are generally from economically and 11